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A prayer for the poor and neglected

Almighty and most merciful God,

we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord

Amen

The Book of Common Prayer

The world is filled with the poor and neglected. The over one billion extremely poor of our human family are forced to survive on less than a dollar a day. A Starbuck’s double soy latte with an extra shot of espresso is not on their must-have list for this morning. Another two billion “moderately poor” live on less than two dollars a day.

Remembering those who have none to care for them, and lifting them to God in prayer, is a beautiful act of compassion and a wonderful place to start. But, we cannot, we must not stop there.

We need to reach out to heal the broken, feed the hungry, comfort the sorrowful and befriend the despised and rejected. In so doing we are reaching out to the Christ who for our sake, and the sake of the whole world, became poor.